Two thirds of Wellingtonians want to work from home more

Lambton Quay during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

A survey undertaken by Wellington City Council reveals two thirds of people want to work from home more following Covid-19.

The City Recovery Insights survey canvassed more than 2000 people last week.

Preliminary results show 64 per cent of respondents said they wanted to work from home more.

Respondents cited reasons including that working from home suited their lifestyle better, it cut out commuting times, improved their wellbeing and saved them money.

Wellington City councillor Nicola Young says people need to return to work to keep the city alive. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

The survey comes after Finance Minister and Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson told the Herald last week while the economy was picking up speed, it was clear central business districts in the capital and in Auckland are much less busy than before the lockdown began.

"It has been quieter and there's no doubt that a number in the public service certainly, and I think other businesses as well have continued working from home practices under [Covid-19 alert] level 2."

Robertson has told his staff he expects them to be back working from their Beehive office and is urging others to do the same.

Wellington City Council Lambton Ward councillor Nicola Young said the survey results showed the heart of the city was at risk.

She said people needed to return to work to keep the CBD alive.

"If we have empty office blocks, we'll have businesses going bust, we'll have property owners wanting to get rid of their buildings creating a fire sale, we'll have tumbleweed in the streets. We need to get people back into the heart of the city.

"We've got some huge economic problems ahead of us and the sooner we can start working normally the sooner we might get some of them solved."

Wellington mayor Andy Foster said in his most recent mayoral update he has been talking with leaders in the public and private sector about getting people back into the CBD.

Wellington City Council is working on having all its staff returning to their usual place of work as soon as practicable.

A council spokeswoman said due to the substantial amount of IT equipment provided to staff prior to and during lockdown, the council's two office blocks were unable to accommodate all staff to return immediately.

"We are aiming for Wednesday 17 June to have all equipment reinstated and floors ready for staff to start returning then, and aiming for Monday 22 June for business as usual if not before", she said.

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the survey results reflected what was already being experienced on the ground.

"It's definitely concerning because we have an infrastructure, we have a quantity of retail, hospitality and service offers in the city centre, that's essentially shaped around that audience we've been used to. So, this is going to be quite a challenge for the city in managing this."

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson says the survey results reflected what is already being experienced on the ground. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Wilkinson said the city would find its natural balance but the survey numbers suggested that outcome would be a smaller and more constrained retail offering.

Let's Get Wellington Moving programme director Andrew Body referenced the survey result in a Regional Transport Committee meeting this morning.

"That obviously has quite some implications for the level of demand on transport networks particularly in the peak", he told the committee.

Body said Covid-19 has created some uncertainty for the project.

"We're only just starting to see and understand lasting impacts of Covid-19, particularly in terms of how people's behaviours might change."